27 Dec 2024
- The Kamal Adwan HospitalKamal Adwan Hospital’s director said about 50 people have been killed, including five medical staff, in an Israeli air strike on a building near the hospital in northern Gaza. Israel ordered the evacuation of the hospital, endangering the remaining nearly 75 patients there.
- Israel attacked a house overnight in Gaza City, killing at least nine people, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reports.
- A fourth Palestinian baby has died due to extreme cold in Gaza over the past 72 hours, as hundreds of thousands of people displaced by Israel’s war struggle to keep warm in flimsy tents.
- The head of the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO) was at Yemen’s Sanaa airport when it was bombed by Israeli warplanes and at least six people were reported killed in Israel’s latest strikes on the country.
- Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 45,436 Palestinians and wounded 108,038 since October 7, 2023. At least 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks that day, and more than 200 were taken captive.
Here’s what happened today
We’ll be closing this live page shortly. But before we do, here’s a recap of the day’s major developments:
- Israeli forces have set fire to Kamal Adwan Hospital, forcibly moving out patients and staff.
- Medical sources have told Al Jazeera that several medical staff members have been killed in the fire.Israeli troops have forced detainees in the hospital to strip off their clothes and took them to an unknown location.
- New air strikes have hit Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, for the second day in a row, the Houthis said, adding that “US-British aggression” was to be blamed for the attack.
- At least two people have been killed in Israeli drone attacks on Gaza City.
- Six Palestinians have been killed and many wounded in Israeli raids on Beit Hanoon in northern Gaza.
Northern Gaza under complete siege by Israeli forces
There has been a complete siege of northern Gaza by Israeli forces. Many within the international community accuse Israel of enforcing this siege, not allowing food, water or medical supplies in an effort to make the population suffer even more.
It’s what the WHO is saying, it’s what the UN has said, and it’s what a lot of international bodies have accused Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant of.
Kamal Adwan was a hospital that was barely functioning, to begin with.
It did not have a lot of medical supplies, it did not have any sort of anaesthesia or pain medicine, so when people were suffering from monstrous air strikes and other types of bombardment, this was the only place they could go to.
Now it has been rendered out of service.
Systematic dismantling of health system in Gaza a ‘death sentence’
In a post on X, the WHO said the Israeli raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital put the last major health facility in northern Gaza out of service.
It said, “60 health workers and 25 patients in critical condition, including those on ventilators, reportedly remain in the hospital.”
“The systematic dismantling of the health system in Gaza is a death sentence for tens of thousands of Palestinians in need of health care. This horror must end and health care must be protected. Ceasefire!”
Desperate situation at Kamal Adwan Hospital
The latest that we have from witnesses who have been inside the hospital and managed to reach Gaza City confirmed that the Israeli military had conducted field executions in its vicinity.
We saw earlier today that this dramatic escalation was quite unbearable because there are approximately 350 Palestinians inside the hospital – wounded, medical teams and their families who were taking refuge in that barely functional facility.
The Israeli military burned the hospital and caused significant destruction to the vast majority of its wards.The fate of the hospital’s director is still unknown.
This is a tragic turn of events in the north of this Strip. The hospital is supposed to be a place of treatment but, right now, it’s a graveyard for civilians who are taking refuge in the area.
‘No information’ on fate of patients, medical staff at Kamal Adwan Hospital
Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israeli forces burned buildings and destroyed all power generators at Kamal Adwan Hospital.
- The ministry also said it has no information on the fate of patients and medical staff who were inside the hospital.
- Al-Awda Hospital, another health facility in northern Gaza, has also been directly targeted by Israeli forces.
- The ministry called on international institutions to find alternative ways to ensure the continuity of health services in northern Gaza and stop “serious Israeli violations against patients and health facilities”.
- It added that Gaza also faces “a huge deficit in the clinical capacity of hospitals”.
Jordan condemns Israeli raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital
Jordan’s Foreign Ministry has condemned the Israeli raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital in the “strongest terms”.
In a statement, the ministry said the forced evacuation of patients and medical staff was a “flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law and a heinous war crime that is added to Israel’s ongoing crimes in the Strip”.
Ministry spokesperson Sufyan Qudah stressed Jordan’s “absolute rejection” of the targeting of medical facilities, calling on the international community, especially the UN Security Council, to “compel” Israel from continuing its “aggression” on Gaza, end the humanitarian crisis across the enclave, and “hold those responsible accountable”.
What is happening in northern Gaza?
A reminder that there is an ongoing deadly siege of northern Gaza by the Israeli army that has left Palestinians in Beit Hanoon, Beit Lahiya, and Jabalia severed from essential services for more than two and a half months.
Here is what you need to know:
- Israel launched the assault on October 6, saying it aimed to stop Hamas from regrouping.Israel demanded civilians leave their homes and flee south, including to the already overcrowded “humanitarian zone” in al-Mawasi, near Khan Younis.
- Since then, civilians under constant deadly bombardments have been denied the right to their homes, food, water, medical support and safe travel.
- Aid agencies, rights groups and observers say Israel appears to be employing the “General’s Plan”, a strategy touted by a retired member of the Israeli military suggesting the army forcibly empties northern Gaza of its entire population and regards anyone remaining as an enemy fighter.
- Last week, the UN aid coordination office reported that Israeli authorities denied another UN request to reach besieged areas of North Gaza governorate to deliver food and water.
- Israeli forces have been intermittently attacking Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the few medical facilities still operational in the area. The attacks intensified on Saturday, and today, Israeli forces raided and cleared the hospital. The facility is currently on fire.